Landau: Passio Olavi

The newly written work Passio Olavi by Tyrone Landau created great excitement after the world premiere of Bergen Church Autunnale. In the fall of 2015, Passio Olavi was performed in the cathedrals in Bergen and Kristiansand.

Now the choir Schola Sanctae Sunnivae and the Edvard Grieg Kor take the work to Trondheim. A text written in Bergen in the 13th century is revived when Schola Sanctae Sunnivae and Edvard Grieg Kor perform “Passio Olavi”. Olav the Holy – saint and king – was praised in Gregorian song and kept alive in the accounts of the miracles he performed throughout Scandinavia. In this new work, Old Gregorian songs in Latin are gathered from manuscripts that were scattered and partially lost during the Reformation. New musical events depict the Olav miracles. The texts of these were recorded in Bergen around 1200. We meet Latin and Old Norwegian, medieval singing and choral music from our own time in a new musical presentation of the life of this important historical figure.